5 Times Eve Didn't Go In AZ Fell & Co and 1 Time She Did
by Deadlydollies13
Summary: Eve always knew the Bookshop was there, but for some reason or another, she never went in. This is my first 5 1. It was just a short drabble I wrote because I was bored to give a little more background info about Eve's biological family since such little is talked about them in "On the Eve of the Rest of Their Lives." [COMPLETE]


I posted this originally on my Twitter as screenshots from my Notes App, but since Hurricane Dorian is on its way and I'm not sure if I'll have WiFi to upload any new chapters, I decided to post this in lieu of that. I hope everyone who is being affected by Dorian is safe. 3

* * *

Eve is nine years old. Her mother grips her hand as she tugs the small redhead to Synagogue. "Evelyn Rose, stop dragging your feet, or else we'll be late!"

But Eve is more interested in the antique bookshop she passes every Saturday morning on her way to Synagogue. She's never been in there— her mother is too afraid Eve will ruin everything she touches— but Eve stares into the large windows every chance she gets. Antique books are stacked high, and sometimes she sees the owner inside. He's got such blonde hair, it's almost white, and his smile is bright. He reminds her of Santa Clause, only without the beard and the red suit. One time he caught her gazing inside and he smiled and waved at her. Eve had never felt such a wave of happiness wash over her.

Eve wants so desperately to just go inside and hold one of the books. They all look so pretty and she loves to read. Her mother tugs her hand once more. "Evelyn!"

"Can we go in, Mum? Please?" Eve is not a child that asks for much. She knows her parents work hard so that they can provide for her, so Eve tries to only ask for what she needs.

"Ugh! Evelyn, it's closed."

"But -!"

"Maybe after Synagogue, but not now! We're going to be late!"

Eve happily followed her mother after that. All through services, Eve couldn't even focus on what she was reading; all she kept thinking about was the bookshop.

She skipped along the sidewalks of Soho to the bookshop, only to discover it was still closed. Eve's tiny heart fell to the pit of her stomach.

"Maybe he'll open up soon?" She tried to sound hopeful.

"I don't even think this place has consistent business hours. Let's go."

"But the books, Mum!"

"I'll take you to Waterstones!"

Her mother bought her "Winnie The Pooh." Eve read through the book quickly— and enjoyed it— but it wasn't the same.

Eve is thirteen years old. She just completed her Bat Mitzvah and in the eyes of Judaism, she was a woman. But in the eyes of her parents, she was still a child.

All she wanted was to go to the bookshop. Last time she walked by, she saw another man in there. This man was tall and thin and wore sunglasses inside and had red hair just like her's. She had always despised her red hair, sympathized very much with Anne of Green Gables, but the man in the bookshop made it look so pretty.

She asked her parents if she could go, just to look around, but they refused.

"What do you need with a bunch of old books, anyway, Evelyn?" She hated when her parents called her by her full name. She didn't even introduce herself as Evelyn anymore, just Eve.

"I just want to look at them! The sign says 'Antique and Unusual!' I want to see what's so 'unusual' about them."

"The answer is no, Evelyn. Now, finish writing your Thank-You notes from your Bat Mitzvah."

"Yes, Dad." Her hand cramped.

Eve is seventeen. She was about to go off to University when her mother fell ill. She had Cancer and the doctor said it was too far along to do anything about it. All of the money saved up to send Eve to school was spent on medical bills to find some miracle of curing her mother. Eve had to work extra hard in school to get scholarships for Uni. She had hoped that perhaps the bookshop was hiring and she could get a job there to get some extra money, but she never saw a 'Help Wanted' sign in the window. She only ever usually saw the owner with the white hair and his friend with the red hair. Although, as Eve passed the bookshop, she believed they were more than friends with each time.

Eve stares out the window of her mother's hospital room, hoping for some miracle. She prayed to G-d, or whoever was listening, to send her a sign, send her something that told her everything was going to be okay. She asked G-d for a guardian angel to watch over them. She asked G-d to give her her family back the way it was so that they could be happy again.

But G-d did not answer. At least, not in the way Eve expected.

Eve was there when her mother finally passed. She held her hand the entire time, and when the Doctor came in to announce the time of death, Eve went out into the hall and sobbed. She sobbed and cursed G-d and the devil and everything in between.

Down the hall, the bookshop owner stops in his tracks and looks at the girl crouched on the floor crying. He can sense what had happened, and his heart breaks for her.

A few months later, Eve is enrolled at University College London. Her father calls her one day and asks if they could meet. She hasn't seen him since after her mother died.

He tells her that he's met someone, and he's moving to America. He asks her to come with them, but that would mean leaving her home, her school. She says no, and asks him to stay. He says no.

On her way home, she passes the bookshop and stops in front of the door. It's open, but she can't bring herself to go inside.

Eve is eighteen. She is well into her first year at UCL and her Historic Preservation degree. This is all she's worked for, and yet, she couldn't feel more depressed and alone.

She lives in a flat where she is a stranger in her own home. Her one flatmate is never sober enough to care and the other tries to spend the least amount of time there as Eve does. She has no friends in her classes or her program.

Her father is in California with his now new wife. She's pregnant and expecting a baby boy in two months. Her father had always wanted a son. Eve is easily replaced, and she and her dead mother are soon forgotten.

It cuts something deep inside Eve. It instills into her that she is nothing special, that if she can be as easily replaced by her own father, then she can just as well be as a friend or loved one. She genuinely believes that she is nothing in the eyes of the Universe.

She stops going to Synagogue, only going for the High Holidays. Praying doesn't help anymore.

Just like every other day, Eve passes the bookshop on her way to campus. She peers inside the window. The shop owner is talking to the redhead. Eve rarely saw one without the other. She wondered what it would be like to have a friend like that.

Eve wondered if the strange shop owner would want to adopt a lonely girl.

Eve is nineteen. It's summertime, but she still occasionally walks by the bookshop in Soho, just to look inside the windows. She had yet to go inside. As she turns the corner, a vintage Bentley pulls up to the shop and screeches to a halt.

The shop owner and his friend argue for a few minutes. Before long, the redhead gets back into his Bentley, but not before yelling, "When I'm off in the stars, I won't even think about you!" and sped away.

It's a dramatic scene to watch. The shop owner looks heartbroken, but so did the redhead. Eve wants to go up to the former and comfort him, tell him that it's okay and that she'll be his friend and give him a hug.

Instead, another man walks up to him and tells him that the redhead isn't worth it and the shop owner goes inside.

Eve keeps walking.

Eve is twenty. She is writing her dissertation and is just months from graduating. For her paper, she must include sources. Several sources must be physical sources, like from a book or primary document.

Said sources are not available at the UCL library. However, the librarian tells her, they are just unique enough that they may be found at A.Z. Fell & Co.'s. Eve is dumbfounded. After all of those years wanting nothing more than to go inside the shop and finally, she is given a perfect excuse to.

She leaves the Studio that afternoon, only to be caught in the pouring rain, but she needs those books. So, she walks, drenched, to the bookshop.

She takes a deep breath and knocks on the shop door. And that is the moment her life changes forever.

The redhead didn't leave the shop owner to go off into the stars, because he couldn't stop thinking about him.

The shop owner is called Aziraphale and his red-headed friend is Crowley. It took some time, but Eve was right; they were more than friends.

She is no longer so lonely in the world, now that she has the two of them. She is at the shop more than she's at her own flat. They are there to support her and help her.

She calls the shop owner "Zira" and the redhead "Dad." They call her just Eve and she goes into the shop whenever she pleases because that is home.


End file.
